Tuesday, 7 September 2010

I'll say one thing for the tube strike - at least it's happening on a day when it's actually quite pleasant to walk! And furthermore, if it wasn't for me having to walk back to St. Pancras yesterday evening I wouldn't have come across one of the best uses of technology that I've seen for a while...

Let me elaborate.

On the corner of High Holborn, at the junction with Kingsway and Southampton Row, there is a large and - what I would call eff-ing - busy crossroads. There is lots of foot traffic heading in all directions, and with the entrance to Holborn tube station just on the corner there is always a crowd of people at busy times waiting to cross and often jumping out between the road traffic.

The crossroads is controlled by traffic lights but there is always the usual game of chicken at the switch-over as cars and bikes try to get away like they're in a drag race and pedestrians try to make it across before being being skittled. In effect:

That's the problem. So what impressed me so much about the solution? Well, its simplicity. A countdown timer on the traffic lights that indicates how long you have to cross the road and until the traffic is going to start moving again. Simples init?